Article and photos by Gregory Havel
Some of the forcible entry skills we learn during our Firefighter I classes involve breaching walls. These skills could be used to bypass security devices on the doors or windows that we would normally use for entry, firefighter rescue, or self-rescue.
A word of caution, especially when working in residential and light commercial buildings: Not all walls are well-suited for entry or exit through breached openings.
不要试图突破用钢或木螺柱框架的弯曲墙。弯曲的墙壁的间距比16英寸，18英寸或24英寸的中心更接近，这些中心在直墙中很常见，以提供对将要使用的多层石膏板的支撑。照片1显示了六英寸中心上的木螺柱框架的弯曲墙，将覆盖至少两层¼英寸的石膏板板，这更灵活，可以更好地符合墙壁的曲率。尽管可以打破干墙板并取代单螺柱以在墙壁上进行入口或出口开口，但它变得非常困难且耗时，可以每六英寸拧入螺柱上的干墙板层，并取代多个螺柱使开口足够大，以供消防员。寻找一种更简单的方法。
除了, curved walls often conceal void spaces created by the shape of the room on the other side, as in Photo 1.
Breaching a straight wall may not create a usable opening. Photo 2 shows a wood-frame wall in a new home, with studs on 16-inch centers. Only two of the stud spaces shown might be usable for entry or exit openings. The rest contain electric cables and boxes, steel dryer vent pipe, steel ducts, steel gas pipe, and plastic drain-waste-vent pipe. Unless we are very familiar with the building, we won’t know this until we have spent a lot of energy and SCBA air in discovery. In addition, we might find that the other side of the wall has a set of cabinets screwed to it, or a row of 250-pound file cabinets sitting against it.
If we become trapped or disoriented and low on air on the second or third floor of a residence or commercial building, we can create an additional problem for ourselves. Although the wall we choose might be easily breached, we might create our escape opening in an exterior wall at a height too great to jump, or in a place that can’t be reached with a ladder.
We do need to know how breach walls to gain entry to difficult structures. Sometimes we need to breach walls to escape from them–but this must be our last resort, since there is no guarantee of results, and our SCBA air supply will not give us a second chance. Better options are personnel, task, and location accountability; maintaining team integrity; marking our entry route with a hoseline or rope for use in exiting; and establishing secondary (emergency) exits. If we use these options, we are less likely to need to breach a wall for self-rescue or to perform a rescue.
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Gregory Havel is a member of the Town of Burlington (WI) Fire Department; retired deputy chief and training officer; and a 30-year veteran of the fire service. He is a Wisconsin-certified fire instructor II and fire officer II, an adjunct instructor in fire service programs at Gateway Technical College, and safety director for Scherrer Construction Co., Inc. He has a bachelor’s degree from St. Norbert College. He has more than 30 years of experience in facilities management and building construction. |
